Advent Calendar Day 24

 

 

Advent Calendar Day 24 

Cabin in the Woods, wool, 9” x 12.25”, CAN $400


I took the photo of the small cabin many years ago and always wanted to paint it. When I looked for a winter image for the advent calendar, it fell into my hands. I was immediately intrigued to create it in wool.

I love the cool colours and the fluffy snow that seems to form a protective and peaceful retreat.


Thank you for your continued support. I hope you enjoyed the Art Advent Calendar 2022. Do you have a favourite artwork? I will publish the next blog on January 6, 2023.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with

 good health, prosperity and lots of creativity!

 

Advent Calendar Days 17 - 23

 

 

Advent Calendar Day Day 17

Have some Fruit!, wool and mixed fibre, 8.75” x 11.5”, CAN $ 400

This fruit still life is a re-creation of the acrylic painting with the same title. While I had no problem with the watermelon and plumes, the bananas were challenging. For the longest time, I was unhappy with the form and colour. It took a lot of mixing and layering colours until the bananas finally looked real.


When I held up the artwork online to show it to my daughter, I realized a triangle where the yellow and pinkish red background meet. In the reference photo, the shadows create a dark triangle. In the felted piece, the eye got stuck in that shape.


I decided to change the colour to yellow. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the artwork before I made the change, but you see the dark triangle in an earlier stage of the creation.

 

 

 Advent Calendar Day Day 18

Pumpkins and Plumes, wool and mixed fibre, 7.5” x 11.5”, CAN $400

This painting is the result of the felting workshop I offered, Ready for Pumpkins. It took me a while until I was happy with the colours of the background, the part of the painting that seemed to be the easiest.

  Advent Calendar Day Day 19

 

Fall Bouquet, watercolour and watercolour pencil, 11.7" x 8.3"

At the end of October, my husband and our dog, Shadow had booked another week at the cottage. Two of my painting buddies, Janis and Bob, wanted to join us for the first painting trip in three years. We were excited because we wanted to go painting while Ingo went hiking. Shortly before the trip both got sick. We were all disappointed.


Ingo invited a friend to go motorcycling for the weekend after the cancellations. To my delight, his friend brought a beautiful arrangement of flowers from his garden that I could not resist painting.

 Advent Calendar Day Day 20

Rolling Fields, watercolour, 8.3" x 11.7"

This watercolour painting is the first work from the painting outings with my friends Janis and Bob in the Whitewater Region. At the Westmeath Scenic Lookout., we found painting opportunities in all directions. Full of enthusiasm, I decided to use my acrylic paints, only to discover that I had left them in a closet at the cottage. Luckily, I had also packed my watercolour equipment. In the warming sun, sheltered by the hill with the lookout gazebo, I painted the fields with the Ottawa River in the distance.

In the studio, I added another layer of colour to some areas to make the painting more vibrant. 

 

 Advent Calendar Day Day 21

Marigolds, acrylic, 9" x 12", CAN $300


Shortly before Thanksgiving I decided to paint our marigolds outside on a sunny day. The flowers that look like little suns cheered me up the whole summer.


It was my first acrylic painting of the year because I couldn’t reach my studio in the basement due to the injuries from my accident. Therefore, I used only watercolours for painting because there was less chance of ruining the floors or furniture with paint splatter.


I combined different views as I couldn't find one spot where the slowly withering flowers created a pleasing composition. Outside I used Golden Open Acrylic for the painting. In my studio, I added some more texture with Heavy Body paints. 

 

 Advent Calendar Day Day 22

 

For Day 22, I didn’t pick one artwork but two collages of small pieces I created during the our weekly virtual meeting with my Painting Buddies. Since the start of the pandemic, our group has met every Wednesday except when I was on vacation.


We paint or draw for an hour a shared photo. When I was house-bound due to my accident at the beginning of 2022, these meetings with my friends brought a bit of normality into my life and helped to keep my spirits up. I am so grateful for my painting friends. Here are some of the artworks I created. Some are more developed than others. I didn’t finish most of them in one hour but continued painting or drawing after the session.


Meeting virtually is not the same as going outside to paint together but the sessions offers different challenges and opportunities. Sharing photos in the group allows for a broader pool of reference photos of very varied subjects which is challenging and fun at the same time. Plus, our friendship has grown stronger over the years due to meeting regularly and our chats while we create art, even though some of the members of the group moved to other cities and even provinces.

 

 

 Advent Calendar Day Day 23

Vibrant in the Sun, watercolour, 8.3” x 11.7”


On one of the last mild days in November, I returned to Petrie Island with my friends. We had trouble deciding on a painting spot because it was very windy and mostly cloudy.

It was challenging to create this painting because the landscape looked boring until the sun broke through the clouds. Unfortunately, it hid behind them most of the time so that I could only catch intermittent glimpses of the brilliant transformation it created. It got so cold that I finished the painting in my studio.



Tomorrow, I will post a special blog so that you get the last image on December 24, 2022.

 

Advent Calendar Days 10 - 16

 

Advent Calendar Day 10 

 

For the Love of van Gogh’s Irises, wool, mixed fibre, 9” x 12”, CAN $400


As I was not be able to go outside until the spring, I felt drawn to the image of irises and wildflowers at the end of winter. The felted painting is a recreation of my acrylic painting For the Love of van Gogh’s Irises.


The process of creating this piece flowed without obstacles, but the details took a lot of time. I enjoyed the inspiration of van Gogh’s technique of outlining his shapes.

 

After I finished the artwork, I changed the working title from Thinking of van Gogh's Irises to For the Love of van Gogh’s Irises because irises are one of my favourite flowers.

Advent Calendar Day 11

Mildred, The Hedgehog, wool, 9” x 12”, CAN $400

This cute guy visited my parents every night during the summer to eat the food my father left for him in a little hedgehog house. Most of my photos were taken from the inside and showed glass reflections. However, on the last day of my trip, two hedgehogs were in the garden in the early morning hours and let me take pictures of them.


It took me a long time to finish this artwork because I used several layers of short pieces of wool roving to create the spikes. The leaves were also time-intensive. It seems that everything green is especially challenging for me. It definitely was worth the effort!

 

 

 

Advent Calendar Day 12

 

 

Water Lily, watercolour and watercolour pencil, 5.8” x 8.3” 

 

 

Delicate Water Lily, wool and mixed fibre, 9” x 12”, CAN $400

 

I saw this water lily on my visit to the Palmengarten, the botanical garden in Frankfurt. First, we painted the flower during one of the July Zoom meetings with my Painting Buddies. I was so pleased with the result that I immediately a felted version. 

I spent a lot of time on the water lily. It was my first attempt at creating water bubbles on leaves and petals, which was fun. The needle-felted painting was very time-intensive because of the many layers on the flower and the lily pads.

Advent Calendar Day 13

Peaceful Petrie Island Sunset, wool and mixed fibres, 9” x 12”, CAN $400

 

This is the needle-felted recreation of the acrylic painting Peacefulness from my 2020 landscape calendar. Petrie Island is a natural oasis on the Ottawa River in the east end of Ottawa. It has several nature trails, beaches and lots of wildlife. On a sunny day, it is a busy place for walkers, photographers and painters (in the summer also for swimmers). It is one of my favourite locations because there is so much to paint at different times of the year, and the sunsets are spectacular.  

 

 

 

Advent Calendar Day 14

 At the River Bank, watercolour, 5.8” x 8.3”


I created this painting at the end of July on the bank of the Ottawa River in the Parc du Moulin in Rockland. It was a last-minute decision to go painting en plein air, so I had no time to pack my acrylic paints.


While it is not one of my favourite paintings, I added it to the Advent Calendar because it was my first painting outing after my accident and, therefore, another milestone. I loved being outside and the peacefulness of the moving water of the river.

Advent Calendar Day 15

Rounds of Fruits, wool, 8.75” x 11.5” , CAN $400
 

Needle felting allows you to create two-dimensional artworks (needle-felted paintings) and three-dimensional figures.

In this piece, I took advantage of the versatility of needle felting and created fruits that are so three-dimensional that you feel you can take them out of the image and bite right into them.

 

While my needle-felted paintings usually fit in regular frames, this artwork is quite thick and will require a shadow box frame.

Advent Calendar Day 16

Grey Heron Hiding, wool, 11.75" x 9", CAN $400

 

I saw this beautiful grey heron during a plein air painting session with my friends at Petrie Island in September. The animals on the island seem to be used to the photographers who regularly take pictures of the wildlife. He almost seemed to pose for us. I had started another scene but switched to capturing the heron when he stayed in the grasses right in front of me despite a photographer approaching him with a canoe.


Once I finished the watercolour painting, I started the felted image of the felted bird. The progress was fluid, possibly because I had already studied it while I created the watercolour painting.

If you are interested in purchasing any artworks that show a price, please contact me at info@KerstinPeters.ca for more details.

Advent Calendar Days 3 - 9

 

 Advent Calendar Day 3

 

The Rockhopper Penguins, wool and mixed fibre, 8” x 9.75”

After I drew the cute penguins with my Friday group, I was eager to see how they would look in wool in a needle-felted painting.

Even though I started the piece of the Rockhopper Penguins early in the year, I only finished it earlier today because I got stuck with the surroundings and put the artwork aside until late November, when I put the Art Advent Calendar together.

I took the reference photo during a trip to the Montreal Biodôme a couple of years ago but felt that the cement wall in the background was too plain and unnatural. I looked through numerous images of Rockhopper Penguins in their habitat until I decided to keep one of the stones and add grasses.

During the past couple of days, I struggled with the feet of the penguins. After hours of adjusting the form and colour, I finally reached a point where I considered following my niece's example from this summer to hide them completely. In the end, I decided on a compromise. 

Advent Calendar Day 4

Periods of Time, 9” x 12”, not for sale

During an art class with Community Living North Halton clients, I drew an abstract oil pastel that became the reference for this artwork. Once I finished the drawing, I felt I had to re-create the design in wool. The bright complementary colours radiate energy and cheerfulness.

 

 


Advent Calendar Day 5

Hummel, 8.3” x 5.8”, watercolour and watercolour pencil

This beautiful hen captured in this image lives in the luscious backyard of one of my friends. I saw her hens during my visit to Germany and created this painting with watercolours and watercolour pencils for her birthday.

Advent Calendar Day 6

Winter Cheer Bouquet, coloured pencil, 11.5" x 8"

My in-laws sent these flowers to the hospital after my accident. They brought some colour and a piece of nature into the sterile room. I love colours, and these flowers helped brighten my dark mood slightly.

After my husband fetched some coloured pencils and a sketch book, I worked each day for some time on this image. He didn't bring my good-quality pencils, so I needed to add many layers to get the vibrancy I wanted. It was a long process, but I had a lot of time. I couldn't move and needed the help of two nurses to get me from bed to a chair.

I finished the drawing at home, using some pencils with more pigments to brighten some colours further.



Advent Calendar Day 7

Mallorcan Finca, wool, 7.5"” x 11.5", CAN $400

On a rainy day, I felt the urge to recreate the image from a trip to Mallorca. I took the photo many years ago, in my early twenties.


Every fall, I dream of spending my winters in a place like this, in a milder climate. At the beginning of winter, I love the fresh snow and the blue skies that brighten the landscape on a sunny winter. However, I mind the cold and the many months of winter. It would be wonderful to have a studio in such an old building in a milder climate. 

 

Advent Calendar Day 8

Swan Family, watercolour and watercolour pencil, 5.8” x 8.3”

This swan family swam close to the bank of the big Rhine River in the evening sun. They didn’t seem bothered by the heavy freighters passing or the people sitting in the outdoor wine tavern. I created the painting during a Painting Buddies Zoom meeting, using a reference photo from my Germany trip.



Advent Calendar Day 9

It's Tulip Time, wool, 6" x 8.5", CAN $375

May is Tulip Month for me. The flowers inspire me every year. Due to my injuries, I could not paint downtown during the Tulip Festival this year. However, I managed at least to walk through Commissioners Park with a cane, an immense accomplishment at the time. It was one of my first steps out of the house again and a tremendous encouragement that things were improving. 

 

Purchasing Artworks

If you are interested in purchasing any artworks that show a price, please contact me at info@KerstinPeters.ca for more details.


My updated website, KerstinPeters.ca is fully functional thanks to the fantastic work of Helena Guzmán from Design Your Plate / LEVANTA Magazine. You can browse through the virtual galleries, looking for artworks in alphabetical order. However, I have not posted my latest pieces yet.

Advent Calendar Day 1 and 2

Today, many children (and some adults) around the world start opening their Advent calendars to count the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. In the beginning, the Advent calendar doors hid images related to Christmas. Nowadays, you find them with chocolates or other sweets, little toys, and gifts from beauty products to jewellery.


My art Advent calendar will is a review of some of the art I created this year. Due to my accident in mid-December last year, you won't find many acrylic paintings in the Advent calendar. After being bound to a bed and wheelchair for the first six weeks after my accident, I only managed to walk the stairs to my studio shortly before my six-week visit to Germany.


Therefore, I concentrated on needle felting, watercolour painting and drawing. All artworks that show a price are for sale. Shipping costs vary by destination. Please email me to info@KerstinPeters.ca for further details or questions.

Enjoy the 2022 Art Advent Calendar!

 

Advent Calendar Day 1

The Purple Finch, wool and mixed fibres, 8.75” x 11.75”


After my accident last December, I had set up my workspace for many weeks in our living room because it was the most easily accessible with a wheelchair and walker. I had a fantastic view of the birds that visited our feeders. One of the visitors was a purple finch we had never seen before. Immediately, I thought of my parents, who love birds. I created this artwork as a gift for my dad on his 88th birthday. It was a special treat for me that I could give him his present in person. I saw his delight when he opened his gift. The needle-felted painting has found a prominent spot in their home and is a little piece of myself that I could leave behind. 

It took me a long time to create the image because the bird's feathers required a lot of detail, and the pastel background was more challenging to realize than I had expected. Here are some photos of the progression.

 

 

 Advent Calendar Day 2

 

 

Winter Bouquet, watercolour and watercolour pencil, 9” x 12”

After my fall, I spent my days in the spacious living room because I could get easily around. To distract myself, I started drawing the first day I was in my hospital room and continued during my rehabilitation at home. The Christmas bouquet from a dear friend brought a bit of nature into my world, and its beauty delighted and inspired me.

I invite you to check out my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KerstinPetersPaintings if you don't want to wait until next week for Days 3 - 9. On my page, I will publish a daily Advent Calendar post.

It's All About ART

Blog 20


Shortly after my 30th birthday, I immigrated to Canada from Germany. Despite an English and Spanish language and business degree, I was afraid to speak English. I felt stupid because I could not express myself with the subtleties of my mother tongue.


After my move, I became an outsider. I was not allowed to work during the first year while I waited for my permanent resident papers. I felt very alone and homesick without support from my family and friends. I craved connection. I returned to art, my first love, to express myself and to find new friends.


Art has always had a role in my life. Sometimes the part was bigger, and other times life events took precedence. I have created art since I was a child. I remember a visit to a large construction site. My father, an architect, took care of work while I drew his office from all directions.


Art allows you to express yourself in a non-verbal way. However, art is not only used to capture the beauty of our environment, our dreams or visions of our imagination. Art helps people deal with traumatic experiences and is a fantastic visualization tool.


When people think about art, they often think of the beautiful nature paintings of the Group of Seven, van Gogh, Monet or any other master painter. Others might think of art as a means to address and capture social issues and wars or a way to process personal experiences, like the art of Frida Kahlo.

 

When many people think of art, they don’t consider the everyday use of drawing and sketching as artistic. However, when you create a map for someone, a drawing to describe an object, a pattern for a sweater, the shapes and forms used in geometry or the illustration of mathematical divisions, these are all based on visual communication using art. 

The definition of art can describe the

1) creative visual expression in paintings, drawings or sculptures to capture the beauty of life

2) various creative activities like painting, music, literature, and dance

3) skill you achieved through practice doing a specified activity, the art of small talk, the art of cooking

I capture the beauty of nature in my artworks to provide joy and a piece of outdoors for the living space. As a German instructor, I use art to help my students visualize new materials for faster and longer-lasting memorization.

My art has helped me cope with difficult situations in my life, like the terrible fall last year that bound me to a wheelchair for weeks and made it impossible to leave the house for months. I don’t know how I would have coped with the pain and frustration without immersing myself in my world of art. Despite the pain, I started drawing on the first day in my hospital room and continued with daily creative projects.


I want to inspire you to see more ways to use creative expressions. I want people to see their creative potential and embrace their uniqueness. Art and language go hand in hand to enrich our lives, provide relaxation and build bridges of understanding. I aim to bring people to support and inspire each other. 

 

 

If you are intrigued and want to bring more art into your life, contact me at info@KerstinPeters.ca. I offer needle felting sessions and German Through Art courses

Here are my current specials if you want to join my needle-felting workshops: